Are you working so hard that it feels like your life is passing you by? Read on…
Marta writes:
My problem is that every day I cannot stop working. I always think that what I have done during the day is not enough and therefore I have to work more and more. The result is that I finish the day very tired. And this is from me, it’s not a requirement of my job.
It feels like my life is passing me by and I’m not really living it.
Dear Marta:
So there is something in you that cannot stop working. And it is telling you that you haven’t done enough so you have to work more.
What we call “thoughts” are often from parts of us. So when you say, “I think I have not done enough,” that is this part of you giving you the feeling that you haven’t done enough.
Since no one from outside you is driving you, it must be from inside!
You are feeling helpless… and I know that is hard… but actually you are not helpless. There is something you can do, and that is to turn toward the part that is driving you and shift your relationship with it.
There’s also something in you that is being driven. A pushing part and a part being pushed. In the following, I’ll show you how to be with both of them.
- At the end of a workday, when you have the thought, “I haven’t done enough” — pause and notice how that feels in your body. I’m guessing you’ll find a pressured, uncomfortable feeling… or something like that.
- Put a gentle hand on the place in your body where you feel that, and let it know you hear how “________” it feels (use your own descriptive word).
- Now say Hello to the part of you that is saying that you haven’t done enough. You don’t have to feel this one, you just know it is there. “Hello to something in me that is saying I haven’t done enough.”
- The part that is pushing you to work more is worried about something. Be curious… “What might you be worried about?” you could say to it.
There is more… but I predict this much will feel like a huge relief!
